Lincoln king



(No Model.)

L.KING. INDICATOR 1.00K` No. 487,276. Patented Deo. 6, 1892. Ff/13g. J. /-\L ;7,' ""'l2 MJ@ y UCCUPIED ,.5 @a 4 f /ff wf- Oa? um, CCl/PIED @www NTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LINCOLN KING, OF NFV YORK, N. Y.

INDICATOR-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,276, dated December 6, 1892..

Application filed J'uly 27, 1892, Serial No. 441,408. (No model.)

.To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LINCOLN KING, a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of the city of New York, in the State of New York,have invented a new and uset'ul Improvement in Indicator-Locks, of which the followingis a specilication.

This invention relates to knob-actuated locks or bolts especially designed for the doors ot water-closets, bath-rooms, dressing-rooms, and the like and combined with or adapted to coact with indicators by which it can be readily known from outside the door whether or not the room is occupied.

The present invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this speciication as part thereof.

Figures 1 and 2 ot' these drawings are respectively an elevation and a horizontal section showing the door locked and the indicator exposed. Figs. 3 and 4 are like views showing the door unlocked and the indicator withdrawn or concealed from view. Fig. 5 is an edge view of the two parts of the lock-casing. Fig. 6 represents a section on the line 6 6, Fig. 2, showing the interior of the lock and indicating by dotted lines its use at the opposite edge of the door. Figs. 7 and 8 are edge views of the two parts of the keeper,

showing them, respectively, as in Figs. 1 to.

4 and as attached to a door opening inwardly; and Fig. 9 is an elevation showing the indicator as used at the opposite edge of the door as compared with its location in Figs. 1 to 4.

Like reference nu mbers and letters indicate corresponding parts in all the gures.

The rim-lock is composed of a horizontal bolt 10, both ends of which are alike, and which is provided with a central rack c, a toothed sector 11, in mesh with said rack, and a casing for these parts, consisting of a flat back plate 12 and a hollow or box part 13, the latter having ianges extending to the edges of the back plate and provided in common with the latter with screw-holes, so that the parts are connected by the screws 14, which attach the riin-lock as a whole to the back of the door. The respective ends of the bolt project throughholes b, formed bynotches in said box part 13. A spindle 15, united with a knob or handle 16 at its inner end and pinned fast to said sector 11, extends through the rim -lock and door and carries at its grooved outer end a reversible signal-arm 17, which isheld on the spindle and masked,when the door is unlocked, by a shield or es-cutchecn 18, attached to the outside of the door by a pair of screws 19.

A metallic keeper to coact with the bolt 10 is formed by means of separate tiat and box pieces 2O 21, (shown in edge view in Figs. 7 and 8,) which are united and attached to the door-frame by a pair of screws 22, the relative positions of the parts being as in Fig 7`in the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 4, or for a door opening outwardly. When the bolt 10 is projected so as to lock the door, the signal-arm 17 projects into view, as in Figs. 1 and 2. A quarter-turn of the handle 16 retracts the bolt and withdraws the signal-arm behind the escutcheon 18, as in Figs. 3 and 4, and a reverse movement of the handle refastens the door and again exposes the signal-arm.

It is not necessary to read any word or words which may be exposed to view, the position of the signal-arm serving itself to indicate that of the bolt. The indicators of a long row of doors, as in hotel and railway-depot closets, may thus be easily read at a glance. Ordinarily such indication that a room is occupied would in all cases be respected. If, however, it becomes necessary in order to expel an in truder, for example, the door may be readily unlockedvfrom the outside by means of the signal-arm 17, used as a lever-arm to turn the spindle 15 and sector 11, so as to retract the bolt l0, said signal-arm being rigid in the direction of the movement of the spindle and exposed so as to be readily reached by the linger when the door is locked, as in Figs. 1 and 2.

The rim-lock need simply be attached at the free edge in one and the same way in applying it to right-hand or left-hand doors, as illustrated by Fig. 6 in connection with Figs. 1 to 4. The same is true of the escutcheon 18. The signal-arm 17 is reversed so as to expose its other side and project in the opposite di rection, as illustrated by Fig. 9 in contrast with Fig. 1. To facilitate so using the signalarm in either position, it is loosely attached to IOO the outer end of the spindle 15, as shown in the drawings, by an inwardly-proj ecting studpin c, Fig. 9, coactng with one or the other of two longitudinal grooves d e in the otherwise round spindle. The outer end of the spindle and its socketin the signal-arm may be square. The spindle and its said grooves or square are made long enough to tit the greatest thickness of door, and this end of the spindle is cut off to the required length in applying the lock to thinner doors.

For doors opening inwardly, instead of outwardly, the keeper 20 2l is attached in the manner represented by Fig. 8 in contrast with Fig. 7, the attaching-screws 22 being reversed.

Both sides of the signal-arm 17 are preferably provided with the word Occupied, as Shown in Figs. l and 9. Any equivalent word or words may be used, or the signal-arm may be used without any word thereon, and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described the said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire t-o patent under this speciticationl. An improved indicator-lock composed of a rim-lock having a horizontal bolt either end of which may be used and which has a central rack and a toothed sector in mesh with said rack, a spindle provided with a knob or handle at its inner end and serving to actuate said sector, a reversible signal-arm carried by the outer end of said spindle, and an escutcheon which masks said signal-arm when the bolt is retracted, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

2. In an indicator-lock, the combination, with the bolt mechanism and its spindle and with an escutcheon at the outer end of said spindle, of a signal-arm which is carried by said outer end oli' the spindle, is rigid in the direction of the movement of the spindle, and projects from behind said escutcheon when said bolt is projected, and is thus adapted to be used as a lever-arm to retract said bolt in case of emergencies, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

3. In an indicator-lock, the combination, with a rim-lock and an escutcheon adapted to be used at the free edge ot' either a righthand or a left-hand door and with the lockspindle, of a reversible signal-arm carried by the outer end of said spindle,substantially as hereinbefore specified.

LlNCOLN KING.

Witnesses:

ANDREW M. DoRR, MELVILLE E. MURPHY. 

